At the Academy of Science’s Conference Center in the Castle District of

Budapest

the 5th and 6th of December, 2014

THE FLIGHT OF THE BUTTERFLY

From the Vision of Planetary Consciousness to a Platform for Planetary Action

At Twenty-One the Club of Budapest has become a grown-up butterfly. In 1993 it flapped its wings when with its first Honorary Members Mikhail Gorbachev, Peter Ustinov, Yehudi Menuhin, and the Dalai Lama it called for a Planetary Consciousness. We defined it as „the knowing as well as the feeling of the vital interdependence and essential oneness of humankind and the conscious adoption of the ethic and the ethos that this entails.” At the time this idea seemed esoteric: it was ahead of its time. But the tiny current it created has nucleated: for the most part globally thinking people now recognize that the kind of consciousness we possess is a crucial factor in creating the kind of world we could leave in good conscience to our children.

Twenty-one years later the time has come for a new stage in the flight of this butterfly. As a global think-tank we have thought and we have talked, and now we must walk—or fly—our talk. With a planetary consciousness we must tackle the challenge of creating a sustainable planet. We cannot create it alone, nor can anyone. But we can create it together. The next stage in our flight is to bring together people with the ethics and the ethos of planetary consciousness to think together and to act together, in order to enable all the women, men, and children on this planet to live with the dignity and wellbeing that is the birthright of every human being on earth.

We wish to evolve from a think-tank to an act-tank: to a platform that people and organizations can join if they wish to promote the shift toward an ethical and responsible world. We now call together our Members, Partners and Associates to tackle this ambitious but entirely necessary and extremely urgent task.